The title word setsuyō means "reduce usage; economize" and alludes to the Lunyu (compare the Kagakushū).
Despite much speculation about the dictionary's anonymous author, Bailey concludes "a nameless fifteenth-century Zen priest is the likeliest candidate".
Each main entry gives the word in kanji (Chinese characters), notes Japanese pronunciation in katakana on the right, and occasionally adds etymologies and comments on the bottom.
The Japanese linguist Hashimoto Shinkichi analyzed differences among early Setsuyōshū editions and found three categories, distinguished by the first word beginning with i- appearing under the first '"Heaven and Earth" heading.
The dictionaries' initial word is either Ise (伊勢 "old name for Mie Prefecture"), Indo (印度 "India"), or inui (乾 "northwest").